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The concept seems good, but the picture seems odd. For this to work, you'd either want to: * Use fancy fluid dynamics, the way bagless vacuum cleaners do, wher

The concept seems good, but the picture seems odd. For this to work, you'd either want to: * Use fancy fluid dynamics, the way bagless vacuum cleaners do, where you separate clean and dirty air * Have some kind of filter Otherwise, you'll bring in more dust than you take out. I see neither of those in the patent picture, but the patent is in Japanese. Perhaps it's in the patent text. Or perhaps there's a third way I haven't thought of. Thoughts? What's Canon doing here? A self-cleaning camera would be neat!

azalemeth 7y ago
Also, what happens if it rains? Most 'weather sealed' lenses and bodies go to great pains to put O-rings on everything and completely separate air inside the camera from air outside. I imagine that's a lot harder to do with this design. Given that lens fungus seems to be caused by humid air, isn't there a risk that this design will effectively decrease the storage life of it in real-world conditions?
brudgers 7y ago
For non-weather sealed fixed lens cameras (bridge, point and shoot, smartphone), this might make sense. Cameras that are not supposed to be used in adverse environments are less likely to suck in crud. The image suggests otherwise, but it probably makes sense to prototype the idea at a larger scale and higher volumes.
- gambiting 7y ago
  I mean, the Lumix LX100 is famous for sucking in dust onto its sensor after couple years of use, even if all you do with it is take pictures at family events. I don't think you need to be using your equipment in a sawmill to have this issue.
  - brudgers 7y ago
    I'm not saying it is a good idea. And I set my cynicism aside to not make a cynical speculation that Canon was pursuing the idea in order to make new versions of the same old optical formulas by adding features and increasing complexity. Part of that was that o-rings for weather sealing cost less than a buck and Pentax weather seals it's cheapest kit lenses and DSLR bodies (and those cheap bodies have "IBS"). But I wasn't making that comment. As far as I've read, the LX100's zoom mechanism is the likely culprit. Air movement might mitigate that kind of problem. Instead of trying to keep all the dust out, manage it, and send it where it doesn't matter. On the other hand, the LX100's dust problems might also be from manufacture process. That would correlate with the seeming inevitability of sensor dust no matter how it is used (just so long as it is used). I remember reading something about a Canon or Nikon body that had that had manufacturing dust (Maybe on LensRentals?). Where the feature might make particular sense is a competitor to the Sony RX1R : Full frame fixed lens premium price.

azalemeth 7y ago

Also, what happens if it rains? Most 'weather sealed' lenses and bodies go to great pains to put O-rings on everything and completely separate air inside the camera from air outside. I imagine that's a lot harder to do with this design. Given that lens fungus seems to be caused by humid air, isn't there a risk that this design will effectively decrease the storage life of it in real-world conditions?

brudgers 7y ago

For non-weather sealed fixed lens cameras (bridge, point and shoot, smartphone), this might make sense. Cameras that are not supposed to be used in adverse environments are less likely to suck in crud. The image suggests otherwise, but it probably makes sense to prototype the idea at a larger scale and higher volumes.

gambiting 7y ago
I mean, the Lumix LX100 is famous for sucking in dust onto its sensor after couple years of use, even if all you do with it is take pictures at family events. I don't think you need to be using your equipment in a sawmill to have this issue.
- brudgers 7y ago
  I'm not saying it is a good idea. And I set my cynicism aside to not make a cynical speculation that Canon was pursuing the idea in order to make new versions of the same old optical formulas by adding features and increasing complexity. Part of that was that o-rings for weather sealing cost less than a buck and Pentax weather seals it's cheapest kit lenses and DSLR bodies (and those cheap bodies have "IBS"). But I wasn't making that comment. As far as I've read, the LX100's zoom mechanism is the likely culprit. Air movement might mitigate that kind of problem. Instead of trying to keep all the dust out, manage it, and send it where it doesn't matter. On the other hand, the LX100's dust problems might also be from manufacture process. That would correlate with the seeming inevitability of sensor dust no matter how it is used (just so long as it is used). I remember reading something about a Canon or Nikon body that had that had manufacturing dust (Maybe on LensRentals?). Where the feature might make particular sense is a competitor to the Sony RX1R : Full frame fixed lens premium price.